- This topic has 668 replies, 37 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Bob, do you think there’s any chance that the bullpen can improve naturally? That is, without making a bunch of additions? With better health from the expected rotation, we could see Gant, Gomber, Poncedeleon and Reyes added to the pen. Better health from Leone (who has been very good at times), and a bit of maturity from Hicks and Hudson…it has to be at least within the realm of possibility that they could be average or better through some better luck, right?
Good question, Mr. Lankford.
I’m almost sure the bullpen would indeed improve naturally — just like 33-year-old Dexter Fowler will undoubtedly bounce part of the way back to his old self in 2019.But improve from worst or nearly worst in the league, all the way to average? I think that’s unreasonably optimistic. (For both the bullpen and Dexter.)
The Cards had zero relievers in 2018 who posted a sub-3.00 ERA over at least 35 innings. Every other team in the N.L. Central had between 3 and 5 such pitchers. Heck, the last place Reds had 3 guys with a sub-2.60 and 60+ innings! The Cardinals do not have a single excellent reliever on their roster. None.
On the other hand, there are non-competitive American League teams with excellent young relievers, and bad contracts the Cards could take off their hands. Baltimore has Mychal Givens and Paul Fry, and bad contracts in Mark Trumbo and especially Alex Cobb. Detroit has flamethrowing phenom Joe Jimenez who is just starting to mature as a major leaguer, and they also have Jordan Zimmermann’s really rotten contract. The Twins have southpaw bullpenner Taylor Rogers and the underwater contracts of Jason Castro and Addison Reed.
I feel strongly that The Cards should sign Yusei Kikuchi (he’ll be rotation or bullpen, however things shake out in Spring Training), then leverage their remaining “Harper money” by taking on some portion of 2 or 3 of the aforementioned bad contracts, in order to acquire several years of control of multiple excellent relief pitchers. By taking on bad contracts, they theoretically wouldn’t have to give up much in the way of prospects either. (Or if the Cards were to surrender meaningful talent, then their trade partner would eat more of the bad contract dollars. Either way is fine.)
They tried a patch-as-you-go approach last year, supplemented by some over-the-hill free agents. It was objectively an abject disaster. It’s time to go for relief talent that’s in or entering its prime. Not big names and big price tags on the wrong side of 30, like Miller or Britton or Kimbrel.
Speaking of which… Mark Saxon presents the case that improving the bullpen could be enough to reach the playoffs.
OK, but I find that very odd, since his prior article to this one was entitled, “The Cardinals need to get over their fear of a one-year rental and do what it takes to acquire Paul Goldschmidt”.
I guess he feels very strongly both ways. Or is already thinking of another approach if the trade fails.
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticSTL/status/1070424108679213073
Just in case there is lingering hope for two big additions, Jen L confirms what most of us already knew – no Harper.
#STLCards offseason priorities now shift to improving their bullpen and adding a left-handed bench player. They still have substantial financial flexibility, but I'm told Bryce Harper is not a target.
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) December 5, 2018
Just goes to show how utterly INCOMPETENT this front office is..unreal how stupid those clowns are..no wonder they keep MISSING the post season!!!!!
Incompetent when they just traded spare parts for a perennial MVP candidate? I wouldn’t hate having Harper but the bullpen is a much bigger issue right now.
I don’t get the need for a lefty bench bat. If your righty bats can hit righty pitching okay, why go out of your way to add a lefty hitter?
Jose Martinez has an .813 career OPS against righties, and Tyler O’Neill’s was .804 in the majors last year, after a 1.066 in AAA. (That’s pretty good, isn’t it? A 1.066 OPS? I mean, he was better against lefties, that’s true. But 1.066 is alright for your weaker side.)
Gyorko and Munoz are both over .700 against rights, for their careers. I mean, unless you can find a true righty-mashing Adam Lind type, why bother? For that matter, just bring Adam Lind out of retirement! (Of course, then lefties will exploit the crap out of him. And he won’t help you one iota in the field or on the bases.)
So, other than the nebulous (and perhaps valueless) virtue of “balance”, what is the selling point of the lefty bench bat?
I love, love, love that they’re out of the Harper race. Wish I could get the same reassurance about Moustakas. (There are several markedly better players than Harper, who are quite possibly going to be free agents over the next couple of years. Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Kris Bryant. Probably more I can’t name off the top of my head. No need to cry over spilled Bryce.)
Would you rather have the youngest hitter or the best one? Some of those guys to be available in the next year or two will still be in their 20’s.
The fear is that next offseason they’ll do the same thing, try lightly for some of those free agents but then miss out on all of them and just get some guys to fill the roster as usual…hopefully Goldschmidt works out better than Ozuna did…as now we’re back to adding a few pieces and hoping we strike gold with them and then being stuck with them when they don’t…
Well we know what Goldy did from 26-31. We don’t know what Harper will do from 26-31. The question is what Goldy does from 31-37 will be better than Harper’s. I would take my chances on Harper but that’s a personal choice. Moot point anyway. I hope Goldy’s 2019 will make me forget Harper.
Why be focused on next winter rather than the 2019 season, whose outlook just got a lot better?
Consider the possibility that Ozuna could “work out” in 2019, too. And if so, what if he was re-signed? What if both of them come back?
On a day that the Cardinals made a really strong acquisition, one that many doubted they would pull off, so many people are still upset.
It is not about being upset. It is about hoping they made a difference choice. I am fine with Goldy for 2019 and like I said before will be happy to eat crow for a 2019 title. I was hoping for the younger choice with Harper. They didn’t I move on. I never doubted they would get Goldy I just wished they didn’t.
Cards still are missing a young super star to build on, Harper was there for the taking and they chickened out and went after older guy for a year….
I would still like the left-handed bench player to come from a JMart for Joe McCarthy trade.
Just in case Ozuna bolts next year…
“Stl just added the best player on their roster.”
Probably so, and they still need more to catch those teams in front of them.
Some are upset because we fear that like the last few seasons we make one free agent signing or trade and then expect that one player to change everything and it’s the only big move that we make, pinning all of our hopes on one signing/trade…last few years we’ve had a bad track record with that…
Well, today is December 5. It must be really a downer considering the worst outcome is going to happen ahead.
But I will play along for a minute. For those who focus on bad outcomes, how about this one? They pass on Goldy, waiting for Harper, only to lose out on him. How do we know he wants to play in StL? He could head to a major market for the same or less money, and if he did, he wouldn’t be the first to prefer to play somewhere else.
(For a superstar like Harper, endorsements are potentially more important than others. Endorsements are better and easier in bigger markets.)
Assuming the Cardinals could get Harper no matter what, when it appears many other teams with deep pockets also want him, too, would be a very dangerous Plan A.
They got Goldy. So lets move on. Anything else is pure speculation. We have what we have. Hope for the best anything else would be foolish. I rather have Harper but you are right you get the best you can get. So make more moves and move on from Harper it was a pipe dream after all.
I doubted that we would get Harper I just don’t want Goldy to be our only non pitching change that we make…
Goldy is not Ozuna. He has 7 consecutive great seasons. We should be happy. As long as we get some bullpen help and not in the form of cheap questionable help. When we signed Cecil people were happy but I didn’t see it in the numbers. You can not argue that goldschimdt is not our best player now
I understand some hesitation but if we solidify the pen I am very happy. This is way bigger than the Ozuna move and everyone wanted Kelly and weaver out. What is to complain about
Ecstatic about this move.
Great player and great mentor for the young players. A pro’s pro.
Now let’s firm up the left side of the bullpen.Missing on Harper is a good thing. He would have paralyzed our budget this winter to upgrade the bullpen.
Bob, why would you think we would still potentially be in the Moose market? With Goldy at 1B and Carp at 3B I’m pretty sure the Moose ship has sailed.
If we are looking for a LH OF bat for the bench I would suggest Jon Jay on a cheap deal.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.